The Real

Something in his tone made me stop in my tracks and turn back his way. Long strides had him in front of me in seconds, and he looked . . . pissed. He loomed over me as I crossed my arms.

“Abbie, for the past two months that I’ve conversed with you, I’d like to think I’ve learned a lot, and one of the things I’ve learned is that you can dish it out just as good as you can take it. So, what’s going on?”

“You’ve seen too much.”

“I assure you I haven’t.”

“It’s like I’m a joke to you.”

“I assure you, you’re not.”

“So, when you were laughing at me just then, it meant nothing, right? And what’s with the six a.m. wake up call to exploit my weakness?”

“Exploit your weakness? Abbie, you can’t be serious,” he said, his brows pressing together.

“Like I said, I’m used to it. Everyone I love or am close to makes fun of me.”

His eyes lit fire and his jaw ticked as he studied me.

“Just forget it. I’ll text you later.” I moved to walk around him and was caught by the wrist.

“Wait a damn minute. If I was laughing it was because I find some of your antics hysterical, which they are. You are funny most of the time, and sometimes you aren’t, which is, oddly, still funny. I was at your house at six a.m. because I couldn’t sleep. And I couldn’t sleep because I couldn’t stop thinking about being next to you again and I needed any excuse to see you. I respect the boundaries you’re so insistent on keeping because I do care about you.

“As for running, I saw the way you lit up last night when I talked about it. So, instead of rubbing myself raw with thoughts of you and the need to touch you, I thought I would kill two birds and exercise them out with you by my side. I’m having a horrible time controlling myself at this point because you’re the sexiest goddamn woman I’ve ever met. And in case it’s not clear by now when it comes to weakness, you’re becoming mine. So, if yelling at me on the street is making you feel better, I’m all for it, but I’d rather be doing much, much more, and by the look on your face, so would you.”

I stood stunned. He closed in as my heart went hummingbird.

“I’m not out to get you, Abbie. I’m falling in love with you.”

The sun chose that moment to creep over the horizon, hitting us both. I threw myself at him, climbing him like a tree until our mouths touched. Cameron guided me with his hands, cradling my ass before he moved in, touching my lips softly with his as I sank into him, my legs shaking. He slid his desire-filled tongue along the seam of my mouth, and I opened for him. I gasped as he pressed in, and he kissed me breathless. I felt my knees beginning to give out as he pulled away. “I’m so sorry, baby—”

“No, I’m sorry—”

“I swear to God, I would never intentionally hurt you—”

“I was just embarrassed—”

“You don’t have to be, Abbie, never with me—”

“You were just trying to be good to me, and you are so good to me, Cameron,” I murmured as I took in his features and clasped my hands around his neck, sliding my thumbs through the hair at the nape of it.

Our mouths fused again, all doubts erased. His need matched my own. Chest to chest, our racing hearts met and molded. Give and take, we were relentless in our craving for the other. All that I felt I expressed with my kiss, and his was far too much to handle. We only pulled away when we heard a car approaching but kept our foreheads together.

“This is so much better than—”

“I can’t believe this,” I said at the same time as we pulled away.

He leaned in again, and that next kiss stopped time, rebuked our pasts, led us crashing forward, and lasted a heart rendering eternity. The world was a blur as we stayed content in our cloud. He was all I saw, all I felt, and it was incredible.

I was flying high as he pulled his lips away but kept us close.

“I need this. I needed this so much,” he declared before he shut his eyes tight. When they opened, they were full of emotion. “Tell me I can have this, tell me I can be this happy. Tell me I can have you.”

“Yes,” I whispered. “I’m nervous,” I said honestly.

“I’m not. I want this, Abbie.”

Normally those words would scare me, and in the past, have scared me, but his words were right. They weren’t selfish. He was giving and taking. A gift. And I realized I never wanted anything so much in my life. I was gone, no longer just me but hopefully a part of a we.